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BANDYOPADHYAY : A STUDY ON THE JAINA-PURĀŅAS
Purānas Narrating the Character of one Great
Personality (Eka Salākā Puruşa Carita):
Simultaneously with the Trisasti-Salākā-Puruşa-Caritra we find some Purānas relating to one great man, called Eka-Salākā-Purusa Caritra. Among the works of this class
Pārsvapurana of Padmakirti (10th century A.D.) was composed with the life-story of Pārsva-nātha, the 23rd Tirthankara. This work is divided into 18 Sandhis. The poet has mentioned the names of his preceptors-as Candrasena, Mādhavasena and Jinasena. The language and metre used in the verses are very lucid. It contains 310 Kadavaka and 3323 stanzas.
The Manuscript of this work has been kept in the Digambara Jaina Mandir of Jayapur of Rajasthan.
The Nemināthapurana of Nemidatta deserves to be mentioned here. The poem is composed in Apabhramsa language with 25 Sandhis and 6895 verses in a very lucid style. For this work the poet has gained a position of dignity in Jaina literature.
The poet took retirement from the family life and entered into the order of asceticism. Hence he got the surname of Muni, Gani, Sūri etc. He has mentioned the names of his preceptors as-Amitagati, Sāntisena, Amasena, Srisena, Candrakirti and Amarakirti.
In 1300 A.D. Bhavadeva Sūri composed the Pārsvanāthcaritra which is important for its secular elements. The 'Satrunjaya-māhātmya' of Dhaneśvara composed in the 11th century A.D. describes the Śatruñjaya mountain. The work is also important for its secular aspects.
It is noted in this connection that some Jaina-purānas while describing the noble deeds of the Tirthankaras in their previous births, clearly admit the transmigration of soul. Among some such purānas the Pārsvanāthacarita of Bhavadeva Sūri, Mahaviracarita of Hemacandra, Salibhadracarita of Dharmakumāra etc. can be mentioned, because they describe beautiful stories to establish the context of re-birth. Dharmakumāra narrates that Salibhadra in the previous birth was the son of a very poor widow. His name was Sangama and his occupation was pasturing of cows. Once in a day of festival his mother served him many tasteful foods. At that very moment a hungry beggar came and at once Sangama served the food to him and himself remained in starvation. For this noble deed in the later life he
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